Vir Terminus
by Forgotten Tempest
Summary: In order to protect, one needs the power to protect. But what happens when a hero reaches their limit? Against an enemy who has spent vast time analyzing you, limits are something Sonic the Hedgehog cannot afford to reach.
1. Chapter 1:Things change

**Disclaimer: Sonic franchise belongs to Sonic Team/SEGA**

**A/N: I hope this sets the bar up high**

**Vir Terminus**

**Chapter 1: Things change**

**Ruined Eggmanland- current**

It had been 604,800 seconds since the incident.

In short, it had been an entire week since Eggmans last defeat at the hands of his seemingly eternal nemesis, Sonic the Hedgehog. Normally it was the usual times, failure and the constant battle between the forces of light and dark. However, months of strain and defeat seemed to have taken a new hold over the doctor.

"Doctor?" a voice echoed through the corridor.

Receiving no reply, the corridor doors slid open to reveal Metal Sonic as he walked down the hall. The robot wasn't fazed as he trekked along the broken pieces of past robots along the floor. In fact, it didn't faze Eggman. With the complete annihilation of Eggmanland after the Gaia incident, the doctor focused more on making a suitable habitat for his next plans.

Creeping along, Metal entered an oval room where the doctor was held. He was cautiously muttering to himself, tangled with his own thoughts.

"Maybe if I make this, and then combine them, I can take him down." He muttered, " No! He can easily rip through that. It needs to be faster." He instantly yelled back, scolding himself.

"Argh! Damn it all!" He yelled, "Is there anything that can bring this blue demon down?"

In a burst of fury, he swiped his keyboard of his desk, crashing his lamp, paper work, and scientific books crashing down to the metallic ground. The lamp crashed last out of all items and casted its rejuvenating light into the face of the eerie Doctor Eggman.

Like that of a monster, he shadowed his face from its glow, rubbing his eyes in dissatisfaction. The doctor wasn't the same as his usual encounters. His once pink skin had begun to fade into a gray, flaky texture. His magnificent ruby coat had been torn to shreds, filled with stain spots, and covered in dried crimson blood. His body had become fragile, almost half dead.

The metal hedgehog himself seemed shocked to see defeat cripple the doctor so much. It was like death was knocking at his door, telling him to give up.

Laying his head into his cupped hands, the doctor began to lament at his predicament

"Is there nothing that can bring him down?"

* * *

**Station Square – _A week ago..._**

The sounds of missiles soaring through air was but one of the many horrific sounds echoing around this glassed battlefield. People screamed for help, fires breached the heavens and consumed the buildings all around the area. Such was the destruction from Dr. Eggman's attack. The doctor appeared like a king upon his throne, grinning from cheek to cheek as he watched the destruction of station square commence.

"Hurry up scrap heaps, we need to reach the end of the city for total take down." Eggman roared over an intercom attached to his Egg Mobile.

The large glossy blue robots, or Egg Fighters as they were named, saluted the doctor and continued on their quest for the city's destruction. As the mayhem continued, minor reconstruction was slowly beginning as well. Eggman was busy having his own pawns build in rocket turrets around the city, making sure to take down any pests that may come his way.

The doctor smirked, almost shedding a tear for his plan which was slowly coming together. This had been the first time that his plans had finally gone off without of hitch. Finally, the malevolent Dr. Ivo Robotnik would finally have station square under his grasp. With that, further conquest could begin. If station square wasn't strong enough to stop him, what city or being could? That answer would come faster than he thought.

Out of the blue, a lone Egg Fighter marched up the Egg mobile that sheltered the doctor, "Dr. Eggman, a suspicious life form has been spotted down the street."

Instantly the doctor felt his blood freeze, his hair stand on end, and his pupils dilate. The doctor located a glowing switch and pressed to call up a zoomed in sight. Behind the doctors glasses lay sapphire eyes as they locked on to his one and only nemesis. Several miles down the road stood a single blue hedgehog among the rubble that desecrated this once fine city.

The blue hedgehog offered a short grin, tapping his foot lightly, " I wonder how long this will take?" he questioned, stretching out his legs.

With the sounds of a thousand men, the doctor uttered one phrase, " Attack that Hedgehog!"

As if an avalanche had started, a mass of eggman robots sprang up into action.

"Oh dear doctor, you never learn do you?" the hedgehog lamented, almost happy in thought.

Without another word, the hedgehog kicked up a spread of dust as he zoomed against the armada, a streak of wavering azure energy elapsing behind him. A shell of azure wind attaching itself to the hedgehog, the speeding bullet easily tearing through the egg fighters that littered the street.

However, one large hulk of a robot stood in his way. Carrying the initial conception of the egg fighter, this giant brute carried several barrels of bullets along its torso. Holding steady two large turrets, the brute machine let loose a stream of hot lead towards the azure being.

The hedgehog's grin was unwavering as he maneuvered through the complex maze of bullets, some even deflecting off the powerful winds that sheltered him. With out even wasting energy, the hedgehog was merely several seconds from slamming against the robot. However, the brute would not have it. Lifting his mighty arm up, he prepared to smash the hedgehog straight into the concrete. The hedgehog dismissed this threat and grabbed his feet, rolling himself into a ball. The large robot narrowly missed the hedgehog as he slipped under its orb like feet, unraveling several yards away from the robot.

The hedgehog stopped in his tracks, glancing a look at the robot, "Is that all that ya got?"

The hedgehog saw his comment provoke the bot but decided to finish this skirmish. He ran off in a clockwise rotation around the robot, a large gust of azure wind developing. The brute tried its best to perceive the speed and readings of the hedgehog but it proved too much, disabling the robots system of targeting. The blue speeder continued his tornado, slowly raising the robot off the ground. Seeing this, the hedgehog jumped off from a point and impact himself straight into the robot's armored chassis.

The azure winds ceased and the robot clunked to the ground, sparks flying everywhere. Automatically, as if a virus had crashed it's system, the robot began to spin around, firing the remainder of it's bullets at it's own allies. Many fighters ran, but most could not escape the flurry of the searing bullets as they plummeted through the armored brethren. Finished with it's controlled onslaught, the robot's head promptly exploded, causing the brute to fall to the ground.

Crawling out of the brute came the azure hedgehog, " Well thanks for the help." He joked. His emerald eyes easily locked back onto his target at the end of the road, a plump doctor awaiting his defeat.

Steps became jogging and finally sprinting as the hedgehog continued along his way, spare parts falling by his side.

The doctor was not finished with his onslaught. With a gesture of his hand, the rocket turrets began a spray of missiles into the air, intent on striking the grounds the hedgehog shot across. With another swing of his hands, several ruby robot air guards, also known as Egg Shooters,which followed in hot pursuit, jets streaming behind.

"Alright!" the hedgehog exclaimed in spunk, " Round 2 on the way."

A hellfire of missiles bombarded the grounds behind the hedgehog, steadily gaining on the hedgehog. Gulping heavily, the hedgehog increased in speed, watching himself distance away from the rain of missiles.

"Your too slow!" He yelled back. Returning his gaze back to front, his eyes widened to see that he was on direct collision with a suicidal egg shooter, bent of taking him out.

His speed did cause him to win against the smack of the robot but the brute force impacted on his body caused him to wiggle to stop, " Damn, I think I got robot oil slick in my eyes." he complained, rubbing his eyes.

He was forced to cover his eyes again as the Eggman specialty jets soared past him, winds smacking against the azure hedgehog. The onslaught was not yet done as they began to make a U-turn back towards him.

"Ok, things are starting to get complicated." He muttered, watching the jets approach as well as seeing the missiles being fired once more.

Quickly increasing speed, the hedgehog began to slowly curve himself towards the buildings that lie next to him. One jet, out of the pack, began to curve with the hedgehog before making a deadline rush towards him. Watching the shadow cover him, the hedgehog leaped up to the building, his speed helping him run across its broken structure. This did not help the jet as it was way too close to turn away from the building, ultimately colliding with the structure.

Speeding along the building, the azure force sighted his next target and leaped high into the air, latching on to another jet. However, the hedgehog did nothing but stand and wait as the jet carried him closer to his target. Crossing his arms together, his emerald eyes gazed up into the sky, watching the missiles soar down towards him like a flaming meteor.

With only seconds to spare, the hedgehog slid off the jet, watching the missiles collide into the armada. "That's what I call fireworks." he whistled. From there, nothing stood against him but Eggman and the rest of the road.

Speeding forward, the hedgehog held out both his hands. As if commanding the winds themselves, azure energy began to furiously convulse with his hands.

5...

"I guess I'll deal with this wretched hedgehog myself." Eggman spoke, fixing his glasses as he saw the hedgehog approach.

4...

The winds slowly warped themselves into two raging azure orbs, the leftover energy producing a slipstream around the hedgehog.

3...

Eggman flipped on a final switch before focusing his thoughts on the hedgehog approaching.

2...

The azure hedgehog combined both orbs into a complex tornado in his right hand. He began to speed up immensely, ready to end this battle between foes.

1...

Finally hero and foe would collide together. This was to be their final conquest, the doctor was sure of. Sonic the Hedgehog must be stopped was the only thought going through the malevolent doctors mind.

0!

"**Sonic Storm!" **

The speeding azure being smashed right into the egg mobile. With this one move everything began. An orb of furious air began to unravel around the location, making even the heavens calm down. The tornado like winds tore through the city, silencing every seam of fire that had smothered the town in it's crimson glow. Robots were blown away, glass shattered at its fearsome power, and the clouds themselves seemed to move away. All that was left was the hedgehog and the doctor.

"It seems there is never a day when you don't feel like meddling in my plans, Sonic the hedgehog." the doctor spoke, standing inches behind the azure being.

The hedgehog raised of the ground, slivers of wind resonating off his hands. Turning back, his emerald eyes locked with Eggman, "What can I say? A hero doesn't know when to give up." he said, those words burrowing in Eggman's mind.

"You have no idea how true that phrase is." Eggman spat.

"Well if you wouldn't be fascinated with spreading your ugly mug on cities, then we wouldn't have this problem." Sonic retorted.

"Well it ends today," Eggman cackled, raising his arms into the air, " Today, starting now...this war is over!"

"All right Doctor!" Sonic exclaimed, "I'll finish you right here in now."

Sonic rushed at Eggman only to skid to a stop when massive claws snatched the evil genius, receding into the ground.

"What tha.."

The ground began to crumble beneath Sonic and he was forced to leap out of the way as a machine began to tear through the road. Sonic marveled at Eggmans creation, feeling a sense of nostalgia as he gazed the metal creature down.

With glossy ruby armor, a long spiked tail and a bulky spiked front, it was none other than the Egg Viper from their encounters of the past. Some modifications were made though. Beside the long winding tails were series of laser cannon as well as machine guns. Under the bulk of the machine was large cannon. Physical features were also enhanced and the machine seemed more snake like. The rotation spikes on it's side seemed to be connected to the machine, almost like a whip.

"Taking a trip down memory lane, eh?" Sonic questioned.

"I thought maybe you would like to see something nostalgic before you die." Eggman responded.

"Ok! Lets see you try!" Sonic joked.

"Your no match to my Dual Viper." Eggman cackled, ignoring the previous comment

"Heh, time to take another bot down." Sonic murmured, cocky as ever.

Eggman started the beginning of the battle, sending a spray of metal across the field. Sonic launched away from the bullets, running the opposite direction of the Viper. Eggman decided to keep up the chase, following in direct speed with the running hedgehog. The Viper began to swing its spiked disc at the hedgehog. Sonic easily curved around each attack that flew at him before turning around, hands wide open.

The next disc attack hit the hedgehog head on, managing to push him back a few feet. Grunting from the slight pain, the hedgehog swung the disc back into the Viper, pushing it back several feet as well. However, Sonic took this as his chance. He leaped up to the Viper and began to circle around it until he came to the machine guns. Heaving with all his might, the azure bomber ripped off the guns from the Viper sending himself into mid air before latching on once again.

"Damn you, Hedgehog!" Eggman said, his blood boiling.

The Dual Viper slammed on the brakes along the air in pursuit to get sonic off. The hedgehog remained strong though and continued his way towards the tail of the Viper machine. The doctor would not have it though. The viper began complex swings to use force in getting the Hedgehog off. Again, Sonic was persistent and the fear in Eggman's eyes began to dissipate into rage.

"Let go you stupid hedgehog." Eggman screeched.

"Alright! You asked for it." the hedgehog warned, his body inches from the end of the tail.

With one fluid jump, the hedgehog latched on to the bulky end of the tail, triumphant in his struggle. In the end this worked to Eggmans advantage. With the Viper using all its power, it began to swing like a tornado before launching Sonic into the air.

The hedgehog, wiggling in the air, hugged himself together before launching down in a azure spin. Seeing as the Viper was underneath him, his form merely crashed down on top of dual machine, sending him and it down into the ground.

This worked the Hedgehog's advantage now. He ran over to tail and heaved it on his shoulders, abet with some difficulty. Seemingly using all his strength, he began to slowly spin the Viper around and around. His speed increased, as the viper swung around and soon Sonic himself thought he could make a tornado out of this.

Preferring to finish him, Sonic ended his throw with an upward chuck into the air. Jumping into the air with azure streams following him, Sonic joined the Viper in mid air, Sonic wind in hand. Taking the rotating orb of furious winds within his grasps, his thrusted his arm forward as he collided with the Viper.

"**Sonic Wind!**" Sonic bellowed.

The air around the viper was inflamed with a vortex of heavy winds as they tore through the shell holding Eggman. Sonic himself jumped away from the mini tornado, latching on to a building, admiring his work.

Unfortunately, the Viper still stood, though the damage seen was significant. For the first time, Sonic could see the Egghead piloting the the machine due to a ripped haul. Eggman's face was masked but Sonic was sure it was nothing to look at.

"You just don't know when to quit." Sonic shook, remorse in his voice, " I was beginning to think this was fun but now your boring me."

What Sonic said seemed to hit a nerve in the doctors mind, " Fun..you think this is fun!" the doctor bellowed.

The Dual Viper let out several rounds of missiles, which Sonic easily avoided by zipping across the building. The viper than swung into a suicidal dash toward the hedgehog. Again, Sonic's speed seemed too fast for the viper as it crashed, in vain, straight into the building.

Running down to the ground, the hedgehog was shocked to see Eggman appear out of the building. The hedgehog could see shards of glass implanted in the doctor from the damaged haul. Seeing the doctor suffer, the hedgehog decided to end this battle once and for all.

Hedgehog and Viper launched at each other, speeds sending a whirlwind around them. Just seconds from each other, Sonic slipped under the viper, his target being the tail once again. He latched on and used his speed to gain the upper advantage, throwing the viper into the air once more.

With the air at his side, Sonic began to dash and run around the very area the Viper was taking up. Jumping off buildings, running across the ground, and soaring through the air began to generate a hurricane of dark azure winds which began to wrap and twist the Viper in it's fearsome power. Unraveling in mid air, the hedgehog only uttered one name.

"**Sonic Overdrive!**" He screeched, spin dashed towards the vortex

The vortex began to carry the hedgehog through a furious destructive spree. The hedgehog bounced of buildings, pavement, finally impacting straight into the Dual Viper. Coming out the other side, the hedgehog wasn't done yet. He began smash into each and every part of the machine, littering it's crimson chassis with holes. With one final attack, the hedgehog smashed straight into the haul which held Eggman, smacking both of them into the ground.

The Viper, consumed by the massive vortex, finally collapsed on itself be exploding in a fantastic scene of fireworks. The fire themselves were quickly quelled by the soaring winds which slowly died down to nothing but a swift azure breeze past the hedgehog himself. Sonic was the first to get off the ground, dusting off his fur. His emerald pools gazed to his left to see Eggman picking himself off the ground but landing back on his knees.

Walking over to the doctor, the hedgehog began to speak, " Eggman, no matter what you do, I'm always gonna break your toys." He spoke, inching closer, "You might need to get better designs if you ever want to beat me in our game." The hedgehog was finally just inches from the defeated doctor, "We've done this for so long, I was sure that you would have learned something about me." he finished, a smirk on his face.

Receiving no reply, Sonic spoke once again, "Hey Eggy, don't tell your not having fun?"

Again, no reply.

"It's just game, C'mon Eggman." Sonic said.

That word. It was that word that sparked a sort of blatant response from the doctor. The hedgehog didn't know how to react from the turn of events that had just appeared. All he could do was stare at the doctor in disbelief.

The two stood, inch to inch, the doctors fist implanted straight into Sonic's cheek. This sudden reckless move sent a wave of thoughts into Sonic's head. For once, Eggman was serious. The hedgehog merely backed away in sudden disbelief that the doctor would ever throw a direct punch at him.

Eggman was trembling, rage piercing through his bones, " That word..you think this is a game..ITS NOT A GAME!" he bellowed into the air, his vocal cords straining.

The sudden comment threw the hedgehog back, actually managing to make him step away from the deranged doctor. He brought his right hand up to his left cheek and began to massage it, his eyes still wide open.

Seeing this as the golden opportunity, lone Egg fighters who recovered from Sonic's sonic storm attack ran up to the doctor and began to forcibly drag him away, his face silent and cold.

Everything remained silent. The city was dead, the fires were out, and the people were gone. All that remained was the silent hedgehog and the ruins of dark city. His thoughts of Eggman's sudden attack and the damage done to the this city was nothing compared of what would come...

* * *

**Ruined Eggmanland- current**

"Doctor?" the metal copy spoke, scarring the mangled doctor.

"Its y-you." Eggman exclaimed, returning back to his set up.

"You haven't took the chance to recover from the fight a week ago." Metal explained, "As far as I'm concerned, your in no physical or _physiological _well being to be acting around here."

"Leave me a-alone." the doctor yelled, ignoring metal's request, "I need to find a way to destroy this damn blue demon."

"All in due time, Doctor."

"No!" Eggman snapped, "There must be some type of way of defeating him..I'm tired, so very tired of losing to him." he lamented, "He thinks of our meetings like a game, some type of damn leisure activity...I am no joke, I am the real thing." He began to preach.

"I'm am Doctor Ivo Robotnik, grandson to Gerald Robotnik." He screamed to the heavens, "Yet I can't defeat a simple blue hedgehog who always does his" _A hero never knows when to quit_" Shit routine." he finished, sitting back in his seat.

The doctor sat back in his seat, rubbing his eyes. Maybe metal was right. The doctor was in no stance to even continue trying to beat the hedgehog. For awhile, the doctor himself was thinking of abandoning his declarations of Eggmanland. For years, he never really figured out what would commence once he was able to successfully complete his plans. What after that? Would he just make another world or build new factories. When would it all end?

It wasn't long before the doctor began to see that most of his plans evolved destroying the hedgehog. After a while, the plans of domination began to dissipate and all that was left were plans of a hedgehog free environment. It wasn't to say that he maybe didn't enjoy the fights against the azure hedgehog. After a set amount of time, maybe Eggman did build robots just to have fun. For awhile, Sonic did inspire the doctor to get creative with his works in order to give the hedgehog a challenge.

All together, the two had a different history together. However, times had warp things into different perspectives. Things change, no one could ever accept that. Through all this, Eggman remembered one thing the hedgehog said, something that made him think.

_Sonic was the first to get off the ground, dusting off his fur. His emerald pools gazed to his left to see Eggman picking himself off the ground but landing back on his knees. _

_Walking over to the doctor, the hedgehog began to speak, " Eggman, no matter what you do, I'm always gonna break your toys." He spoke, inching closer, "You might need to get better designs if you ever want to beat me in our game." The _hedgehog_ was finally just inches from the defeated doctor, "**We've been doing this for so long, I was sure that you would have learned something about me.**" he finished, a smirk on his face._

"That's it." Eggman muttered under breath.

"Excuse me doctor?" Metal questioned.

Eggman glanced at the metal copy and suddenly his plan came together. He would do what he did years before but on a bigger and better scale. For the first time, Metal sonic sensed something different in the doctors eyes. It wasn't rage, fury, or depression. Doctor Ivo Robotnik's sapphire eyes burned with the power of determination.

"I have the data, I've recorded the battles..I have everything I need." he spoke to himself, "I'll just analyze everything and perfect it on a better scale.

Metal Sonic instantly understood the plan.

"It is the nature of a Hero to protect the ones closest to them. What happens when a hero reaches their limit? Against an enemy who has spent vast time to analyze you, limits are something you cannot afford to reach, Sonic the Hedgehog." Eggman said, his eyes focused on his screen which read the title of three projects.

**VIR TERMINUS**

**PART ONE: HEROES LIMITS**

* * *

**A/N: Everyone, welcome to the beginning of my grand canon. This is the start of the first story labeled Vir Terminus. I created this canon which details the fights between Sonic and Eggman. I made this mainly because of an idea of me wanting to see Eggman and Sonic finally settle things once and for all. If you read the canon and story descriptions on my page, you are sure to know what might happen for each story but I hope that many of you readers, anonymous or not enjoy this story from start to finish. This WILL be my first finished story for fanfiction, I will make sure of it. **

**I hope you stick around and review this story as I hope to take you through a tale of emotion, fights, and depth interpretation between Dr. Eggman and Sonic. Things haven't even begun to heat up yet.**

**Inspired by the term of a hero used by Blue Kaous and the unyielding spirit to do what must be done used by Dark Maelstrom, I welcome you to the start of the Doctor's Final insanity canon.**

**Read, Review and be prepared for a hell of a ride**

_**TRIVIA**_

**-Vir Terminus is a rough Latin translation to Heroes Limitations.**

**-Rating may change during part 2, still ironing out the kinks but things may turn ugly in that part**

**-This story was inspired by Sonic OVA, Sonic CD, Unleashed Dragoon boss, and Sonic CD music**

**-this chapter was altogether 4511words. Main target was 3000 words but once I write, I don't stop till all points are covered. **


	2. Chapter 2:Old Playmates

**A/N: Sonic and related material belong to SEGA**

**-Preparation Arc-**

**Vir Terminus**

**Chapter II: Old playmates**

**? - 1 month later**

"You called, Doctor?" a mechanized voice sounded.

A brilliant white light cascaded down from the ceiling, illuminating the glossy armor of Metal sonic. The lookalike was caught kneeling before several barrels of equipment surrounding a main computer system. Upon further exception, the metallic entity's scanner located his malevolent master, Dr. Eggman preoccupied with some basic wiring.

The doctor himself, was laying on the ground, his hands preoccupied with the computers wiring. Finally noticing his metal subordinate behind him, the plump human decided to greet him. Raising from the ground, one could see Eggman in a much more healthy appearance.

His skin had returned to its naturally pink plump color; The doctor even seemed slightly slimmer than usual. Though covered in grime and slick oil, the doctor seemed to be back to his usual self.

Lifting off his goggles, his sapphire eyes gazed at metal sonic, " Hmm, I see you're ready" the doctor said, grabbing a cloth from the metal entity.

"You are looking a little better," Metal sonic spoke, it's LED eyes fixated on the doctor.

"Like they say, live and learn," the doctor proclaimed, chuckling the last words out.

However, the doctor's hearty chuckle was replaced with a calm and cool demeanor.

"I want you to engage him, keep him occupied as I stream the data from your scans," Eggman explained, stroking his mustache," Do not kill him, do not attack anyone else but him."

"I understand." Metal sonic complied, finally raising itself off the ground.

"I know how much you want revenge, but gather me the necessary information and then he'll be all yours." the doctors finished, a eerie grin stretching across his face.

"All to see him crushed, Dr. Eggman." Metal replied.

"However, I do need you to do a little pickup for me." Eggman remembered, an eerie tone in his vocals.

"Of Course, Doctor..I didn't forget."

* * *

**Central City – Urban Neighborhoods– 10:00 AM**

"Thank you for the takeout!" the female said, in great appreciation.

"No problem, Amy..say hello the boys for me"

"I will" she shouted.

Out of a rather tan house, came the polite Amy Rose, running among the hustle and bustle of the city. Even around neighborhoods, she could see the urgency in Mobians eyes as they raced down the road to their destination. The pink hedgehog herself had somewhere to be at, a meeting at Tails' workshop and a date with her heroic interest, Sonic the Hedgehog.

She giggled, looking down at a brown woven basket holding plates of food, " I hope the guys like it." She wondered aloud, " Vanilla made it special just for us, maybe Sonic will say something!" she exclaimed, lost in her fantasy.

In her sights lay the central city tram station which could give her a short and fast ride straight to the mystic ruins where Tails promised Sonic would be at. Just thinking about the picnic sent a number of different fantasies in her head, however she shook them off. This would be her time to impress the blue bomber and maybe show off her matured personality.

Losing track of her direction, she found herself running head first into an unknown figure, the strength of the collision causing her to fall down. She quickly scrambled for picnic box which had lost all its contents to the ground.

She groaned in displeasure, " Darn it, there goes the food she made for us." she exclaimed, extremely dissatisfied. Immediately, she remembered that she had ran into someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry" she apologized, turning around to face the person, " Sometimes I just loose focus of things, I'm sure it..." she instantly stopped once she had finally gotten glimpse of who stood in front of her.

As quick as a sneeze, she was lifted off the ground, cold metal fingers latched around her throat. Her dilated emerald eyes darted left to right, trying to find any witness to come to her help. Unfortunately, the two were all alone. She finally admitted defeat and gazed right into the red LED lights that seemed to stare down her own.

"Why are you here?" She managed to gasp out, fear laced her words, death occupying her mind.

"I was running errands, and I just happened to.."

"He'll stop you!" She instantly yelled out, interrupting it's speech, " Your just a lookalike, you could never defeat the real thing." she screeched, rage in her eyes.

She couldn't tell whether she heard a chuckle from the metal entity. Slowly, pressure began to build around her throat, her air slowly being pushed out. It wasn't long before her eyelids began to droop. In one final glimpse, she could have swore she saw a red coated shape walking up behind the gruesome robot that held her.

* * *

**Tails' Workshop – 2:34 PM  
**

"Hey Sonic, can you hand me that wrench?" a young voice rang out.

Receiving no reply, the young mobian tried again, " Sonic?"

Hearing no reply, the mobian poked his head above, revealing himself to be Miles 'Tails' Prower, or Tails as he was usually known. The fox was preoccupied tinkering with his pride and joy, the tornado, updating its overall features.

Leaving his workbench, the fox walked around the bi- plane to see his best friend and informal older brother, Sonic the Hedgehog, fast asleep on a scrunched up towel mat. At first, the fox could only utter a sigh but in that second, a single idea rang in his head, putting a sly grin across his muzzle.

Quickly pacing himself over to his workplace, the fox hopped into his plane and quickly flipped a switch. Responding to Tails' touch, the planes engine roared to life and it's propellers began to flutter to life, casting gusts of air over the azure hog.

Tails quickly forced full throttle on the bi plane and it's massive gust were finally able to overpower Sonic's weight, slamming the hedgehog face first into the wall of the workshop. The golden fox could only utter cries of laughter as Sonic awoke from his nap, a bulging bruise on his forehead.

"Y'know, if you called my name, I would have responded." Sonic groaned, caressing his new injury while Tails hopped out the plane.

"I tried that," Tails whined playfully, " Yet someone was too preoccupied to care."

The blue hedgehog ruffled the fox's hair before inspecting the plane, content with his work. " So, is it ready?"

"All most!" Tails exclaimed, walking past his workbench, "Just a few more minutes of tinkering and the changes should be done..it'll be like a whole new machine."

"Cool, bud!" Sonic said, showing his classic grin and thumbs up to the young fox.

Tails responded with a wide smile before grabbing a towel, wiping slick oil off his soft fur. His sapphire eyes dashing toward Sonic, who was examining the tornado, before leveling down to his watch to see the time. His eyes lit up when he read the time to be 2:38 since waking Sonic up.

"Hmm?" Tails sounded, curiosity etched in his voice.

"Whats up, bud?" Sonic questioned, dashing up beside his friend.

The fox turned towards the hedgehog, thoroughly confused, "Amy was supposed to be here about twelve..but its so late now," he announced, " Maybe she left a message on my phone or something?"

"Honestly its not like Ames to be late...I should know." Sonic snickered in remembrance.

"Exactly" Tails concurred, walking to the left, towards the main hallway of his workshop.

Sonic remained behind, gazing silently a low light lamp radiating it's light upon a small mirror, which of course reflected up into the fox's skylight. As the hedgehog began to think of any excuses Amy could use, a strange sight attracted his attention.

His emerald eyes focused on the tiny mirror reflecting the sun and the shiny blue sky. In the middle of the sky, a black dot seemed to stand eerily in the sky. The hog merely brushed it off as bird but a closer analysis revealed the dot to be slowly descending towards the workplace. Again, the hedgehog brushed it off but slowly his eyes widened when he could see the vague outline of the incoming figure.

The second he figured it out, the area was ignited in a fury of dust as the figure blasted through the roof. The immediate explosion caused Tails' fur to stand on end as he ran back to his workplace. Along with seeing the crashed in roof and the hurricane of debris across his lab, he was shocked to see what sight was before him.

Sonic stood, feet pressed hard into the ground and hands extended, clashed with robotics limbs. His sapphire eyes scanned every bit of the intruder; glossy azure armor, soulless red eyes and the only one able to mimic Sonic's movements: Metal Sonic. The robot had it's boosters propelling him against Sonic, trying to overpower his lookalike.

"You just don't give up, do you?" Sonic said surprised, gazing at his robotic twin.

"I see your reaction time has improved," Metal Sonic deduced, slowly overpowering Sonic, "Nonetheless, you stand as my insignificant copy."

Sonic took a look a Tails, mouthing an apology for what he was about to do, " Ok Metal, lets see whose insignificant!"

Heaving with all his might and the extra strength from his figure eight run, Sonic pushed forward and smashed Metal Sonic into the wall, rushing through the metal wall and completely tearing apart the side of the workshop.

Leaving Metal implanted into the leftover haul, Sonic quickly hopped back and began to crouch down. Spinning fearlessly in place, a shell of cyan energy began to warp around him, molding to every inch of his body. In a short moment, Sonic shot of in a blaze of cyan energy, blasting himself and metal sonic several feet into the air and away from fox's demolished workhouse.

* * *

**Mystic Ruins - 2:39 PM**

The cyan bolt carried the hunk of active metal soaring several feet into the air before unwinding. Unraveling from the cyan spin dash came Sonic who quickly shot Metal down to the ground with a thundering Axe kick to the metal clone's torso. Watching Metal crash into the dirt ground, Sonic again curled up and launched down in a Sonic peacock attack.

Metal easily removed himself from the ground and blasted backwards, eyes still on Sonic, as he impacted the ground with his leg extended. Watching a burst of dust engulf the air, Metal could only watch as the azure force silently walked away from the crater, a smirk on his face.

"So Metal...to what do I owe this amazing greeting to?" Sonic grinned, tapping his foot lightly.

Metal Sonic reached into a slot in his torso and picked out a picture. Sonic's emerald eyes flared up in astonishment as the person detailed in the picture was none other then Amy Rose. Sonic's ever cheerful attitude melded away to a calm and stoic demeanor upon inspection of the picture.

"All right tin can, things just got ugly for you...where Ames?" Sonic spoke, a serious tone washed over him.

"This photo was taken today," Metal explained, " As for her location, I can't divulge any information unless you can destroy me and take it from my lone core." It finished.

"You want defeat, sure, I'll give it to you." Sonic said, a smile on his face.

Sonic instantly launched off towards the metal clone, whose LED eyes began to flash in a cyan hue. As Sonic drew near, a wave of winds enveloped him, completely causing him to disappear. The metal clone soon found himself being caught in a rage of cyan winds, levitating him in the air. Metal analyzed the situation and set his boosters off, canceling the tornado around him in a puff of fire.

From the dispersed wind appeared Sonic who carried a light blue orb sheltered in his right hand. Closing the gap between him, Metal extended his left hand, which became embroiled in a string of electricity. The twins rushed up to each and thrusted each arm out.

"**Sonic Wind!**" Sonic exclaimed.

"**Severing Thrust!**" Metal bellowed.

The two collided fearlessly, forming a raging storm of wind and lighting. The resulting column of energy sent a spiral of elements bursting among the clouds. An explosion soon resulted between them, sending both hedgehogs crashing into the ground in a sudden stalemate.

Metal, being the first one to get up, took a quick look at the azure hog, "Your strength is improving yet you are still not fighting at full power." the metal hedgehog deduced while holding its hand out, glazed with ruby wine blood.

Sonic was the next to stand, holding his right shoulder with his glove clearly soiled in blood, " Heh!" Sonic laughed, covering up the pain, " I don't think you can handle my power."

Metal responded by surrounding his circuits with an excess of electricity. Managing to inflicted slight fear in Sonic, the metal twin quickly fired forward with his hands held out. At first Sonic held out his hands but further thinking caused the azure hedgehog to fall back into the dirt, watching Metal fly past him.

Sonic hopped back up, watching Metal continue down his path. Seeing this as his perfect opportunity, the hedgehog began to close the gap between himself and Metal, a shield of cyan surrounding him. However, as he closed in, Metal immediately braked in mid air before activating a turbine on his torso, propelling him back towards Sonic.

The azure hedgehog's eyes lit up in astonishment as Metal slammed into Sonic, sending them both cascading from the dirt area straight into base of the mountains surrounding the ruins. Seeing the damage done upon the hedgehog, Metal moved back and gazed at the battered hedgehog as he tried to get up.

"As you can see.." Metal said, watching Sonic stand up, " I can handle anything you throw at me."

Sonic winced, feeling his shoulder throb and ooze out an excess of blood. Turning toward Metal, the hedgehog finally came a conclusion, " Ok, metal, I'll show you something I recently made up."

Metal was caught by the strings of curiosity and propelled backwards, getting a large gap between it and Sonic.

"Watch closely.." Sonic whispered.

The azure hedgehog held up his right gloved hand, an orb of light blue energy slowly condensing around his fingers. His eyes closed and he began to swirl the orb around himself releasing torrents of blue wind around his figure, his body glowing up a raging cyan hue. The sight was magnificent, even to Metal's cold eyes. The torrents of wind radiating off his body began to resonate with the area around him. Clouds began to swirl around, with a gaping hole right above the hedgehog.

At that exact second, Sonic's eyes shot open, his eyes changing from an brilliant emerald to a dark stormy cerulean. The calm winds, the gaping hole, the revolving cloudy skies all began to change. A vast tornado of wind began to rush around the entire area, causing metal to plant it's feet into the ground to avoid being blown away. The clouds changed from their puffy white exterior to a dark black and malevolent hurricane. All the exceeding winds then began to spiral into Sonic, surrounding him in a thin shield of cyan.

Sonic then closed his eyes and the winds stop, as if a stop sign had been unveiled. Clouds instantly transformed back to their puffy exteriors and began their normal rotation. The sky swiftly switched back to the normal blue pigment. The air was suddenly calm, like a sleeping child, it's soft touch wrapping around both fighters.

"What is this?" Metal asked.

Sonic walked forward, his eyes bright cerulean and a shield of cyan enveloping his body. Ribbons of cyan rippled of his body and his quills stood floating on thin air. Taking one simple step, the hedgehog instantly appeared in inch from metal, as if taking a giant leap from the rock base. Metal took a leap away from Sonic as the hog began to swipe his arm around. As if the wind understood, the swipe of Sonic's hand summoned a wave of cyan wind, smashing Metal far away from the powered hedgehog.

"Your looking at my Azure force," Sonic spoke, his voice echoing, " I wouldn't call it a form, more of a heightened sense.. the wind and I are one and each of our moves are simultaneous." he said, circling his finger around to summon a ring of azure wind.

"Interesting.." Metal analyzed, making sure to pay close attention to the hedgehogs activity.

Metal thrusted his left arm forward, which flipped back to show an attached machine gun. Even seconds before the first bullet could even leave, Sonic instantly appeared right next to his metal twin, his hand grasping Metal's arm. With what seemed like a simple tug, Sonic tore off his metal copy's hand, gun and all. With Metal Sonic caught off guard, Sonic latched his arm to it's arm before impacting it's torso with a barrage of mirage punches, completely denting his enemies chest. With the wind at his side, Sonic casted the scrap twin into the air.

He pressed off the ground, a crater forming from the shear power, and launched off towards Metal Sonic surrounded in a fury of cyan winds, smashing into him. With each passing, pieces of Metal's armor began to fly off from Sonic's vicious attack.; First swipe, ripped off arm, second swipe, ripped off torso, third swipe, discarded leg.

Around and around the hedgehog went until he appeared several yards above in the air. Calling the winds to his aid, Sonic began to scratch the sky in a circle slowly forming an orb with cyan winds. The orb then compressed to a baseball like size and Sonic grasped it before launching down towards his lonesome copy.

"**Sonic Vacuum!"** Sonic yelled.

The orb was placed into Metal's torso and the hedgehog disappeared, reappearing down on the earth. Sonic sighed in triumph and watched as his attack started. The orb placed within Metal's chest began to slowly expand, and with expansion, a fury of raging winds rushed in to meet the orb. The cycle of winds began to quickly increase in strength, tearing the very fabric of Metal's system apart. Soon, the orb appeared at the maximum size of a balloon rider before collapsing on itself, sending a massive explosion of wind across the endless sky.

"Now that's some fireworks." Sonic yelled, whistling at his attack.

From the explosion fell what was left of Metal, slightly still intact. Watching Metal fall, Sonic's grin soon faded to groans and pants as the hedgehog fell the ground, his powers fading away in a wisp of wind. He was still able to gaze at metal, knowing that he had won.

"It..seems that..you have progressed at..an alarming rate..maybe I am the one who is obsolete." Metal stated, it's power supply running low.

"Now, I think you owe me information." Sonic said, grinning.

"I think..we..agreed that..you need to destroy me." Metal said, " That was not done."

A shadow loomed over Sonic as he watched low level egg grunt land beside Metal.

"Robots, I should have noticed." Sonic said, extremely shocked, " I must have been showing off too much."

"My mission is...complete." Metal said, content with it's work

The grunts picked up the discarded parts of the metal clone before blasting off. The hedgehog eagerly tried to run after the pawns but found himself doubled over in fatigue. Trying to recover, he came to the conclusion that he couldn't catch up with them.

"Damn." he uttered, " Gotta find Ames."

* * *

**? - 7:58 PM**

" I see you did your job."

" Mission...complete, Dr. Eggman" Metal said.

The grunts stood side by side, holding up Metal as the malevolent doctor removed the data. A smile inched on his face as he imputed the chip into his newly fixed computer, watching all the recordings from Metal's battle with Sonic.

Dr. Eggman then turned back to face the metal copy, a smug grin on his face, " This is perfect! Finally I have parts of the information need to complete everything...Metal, amazing job" Eggman said, clapping his hands in appreciation.

"All for you doctor, but I must get repairs now." Metal stated, getting right to the point.

"No..you wont." Dr. Eggman clarified.

"..What?"

In an instant, Eggman plunged his right hand into Metal's torso, feeling around for a certain object. A smile etched his lips when he found his target, yanking out a shining cyan chaos emerald along with another rather bulky computer chip. Metal's sign of function began to die down and soon all energy within the metal copy ceased.

"No more repairs will be need." Dr. Eggman finished, eying a capsule on his right.

_TO BE CONTINUED_

* * *

**A/N : chapter 2 done!I'm currently sick but chapters 2 and 3 were done way before ch. 1. Honestly since its been a while, my writing feels rusty at times. I do hope you enjoy this chapter, leave speculation, theories, and constructive criticism in a review. Be sure to get ready for the next exciting chapters.**

**TRIVIA**

**Azure force will have a very important play in Sonic's abilities in this canon. Many moves that appear to go with Sonic's unique and cocky nature will be made for this story**


	3. Chapter 3:Upon the Deceit

**A/N: Sonic and related material belong to SEGA**

**-Preparation Arc -**

**Vir Terminus**

**Chapter III: Upon the Deceit**

**Eggmanland – 4:50 AM**

Engine and propeller roared as the Tornado III soared through the dark ruby clouds above. The pilot, Tails kept a steady eye on his radar, confident in a trap to come. Sonic himself stood on the right wing of the bi plane, quiet and serious as ever.

"Sonic, we should be there in a few minutes."

"You don't have to tell me, Tails, I know." the azure hedgehog replied, emerald eyes fixated ahead.

The golden fox nodded, worried about the condition the hedgehog took. Tails could see everything; behind Sonic's strong heroic look was a tired and damaged Mobian who could keel over at any minute. The fight between him and Metal had taken more of a toll on him then he let on.

The hedgehog had a sole handkerchief wrapped slenderly around his shoulder. He had abandoned the chance to get any medical attention before they left, deciding he could take on anything Eggman threw at him. Though he told Tails he would be all right, he wouldn't mind having took a longer nap before leaving.

* * *

**Tails' Workshop – 8 hours ago**

_The golden fox sighed in despair at his trashed workshop. He slowly walked along the area where Sonic smashed Metal into, kicking away pieces of wood and scrap metal plaguing the walk way. He gazing at the opening metal smashed through and finally towards his left, where he saw the tornado, covered in dust and scrap metal._

"_Aww, it was almost done too." Tails sighed, " Now I have to redo all the outside work."_

_As the fox raced over to the tornado, a brief sound of an engine began to echo in the the air. At first, he decided to focus on digging out his bi plane, but soon the humming became so unbearable that he had to turn around and figure it's source_

_Behind him descending several Egg pawns, unarmed, carrying a sleek screen monitor. The fox immediately jumped out of his vehicle, intent on destroying the pawns. However, a single pawn eagerly shook a white flag in the air, causing Tails to back down in absolute confusion. A lone egg pawn quickly scrambled up to the golden fox and lifted up the monitor which displayed a picture of Dr. Eggman._

"_Tails, nice to see your overgrown muzzle again," Eggman spoke, " What in heavens happened to your workshop?" he questioned._

"_Like you wouldn't know." Tails hissed out, earning Eggman a mischievous grin under his mustache._

_While the geniuses were caught up in their conversation, the azure hedgehog quietly stepped into the room, limping slightly from his previous fight, " Tails, I couldn't stop him, he.."_

_His eyes narrowed on the egg pawns and the monitor to which Eggman was broadcasting through. The hedgehog found a source of energy through his underline rage and dashed over towards Tails, smacking away several pawns in the progress._

"_Ah, we have all we need to start this meeting." Eggman said, his pawn directing the monitor towards the speeding hedgehog._

"_All right,Eggman, tell me...where is Amy?" the hedgehog threatened, Tails shocked at the current events._

"_Settle down dear Sonic,I'll tell you everything." the doctor chuckled, seeing how he could easily creep under the hedgehog's skin._

"_Sonic, you don't look good," Tails examined, " Have a seat." he gestured towards the tornado._

"_No I'm fine." Sonic assured, managing to flash a smile._

"_Ah, isn't this heartwarming." Eggman chuckled, "Well since you know, Amy has been currently indisposed." _

"_And?" _

"_Well..I would be happy to give the pink annoyance back to you, but you see..there's happens to be a small problem with the situation at hand," Eggman spoke, "Well due to the current ramifications of the damage you've done to my incomplete Eggmanland, my city of malevolence seems to be heading towards destruction."_

"_Why does that have anything to do with us." Sonic questioned._

"_Well, when enough damage escalates within my city, its primed to begin a self destruct count down." Eggman continued, watching their faces drop, " Its a fairly long countdown that gives me enough time to migrate my machinery and other things out, but it seems I might have forgot someone inside my city." He finished, getting a good chuckle at the faces of the heroes before him._

"_You didn't?" Tails asked, quite astonished._

"_Oh yes, you see I didn't really mean to but somethings were just more important than others." Eggman lied, " Anyhow, the timer has escalated to about 12 hours until the whole thing is engulfed by magma and explosions." _

"_You've gone too far this time, Egghead." Sonic responded, " I guess I'll just have to go and save her"_

"_In your condition, you need all the help you can get." Eggman snickered, "Sometimes I wonder why you persist with such endeavors."_

"_Don't you remember, A hero never knows when to give up." the hedgehog said, his usual grin stretching across his lips._

_Hearing those words, the doctors demeanor dropped, his grin slowly becoming a melancholy frown. The doctor suddenly fell to silence and ended the transmission abruptly, sending a wave of confusion over the two heroes. The egg pawn quickly saluted the two before running away with the monitor, the other robots following in suite._

"_What are we gonna do, Sonic?" Tails questioned._

"_We go and get Ames and then we come home." Sonic answered, cocky as ever, " C'mon lets.."_

_The hedgehog gestured towards the Tornado III, but before he could even take a step, his legs began to buckle. His emerald eyes closed and his body embraced the ground in full impact. The golden fox took control of the situation, running back into the hallway to grab a med kit. Kneeling next to Sonic, he began to patch up minor wounds that the hedgehog had received._

"_We're gonna need some extra help with this mission," Tails thought, " I know the powerhouse who can help us." _

* * *

**Crimson City Eggmanland – 4:52 AM**

"Eggmanland, dead ahead." Tails mouthed, the crimson city appearing over the horizon.

"Finally." Sonic sighed. He looked behind him to a familiar friend apparently sleeping in the back seat, "Knucklehead, we're home." the azure hedgehog joked.

Sitting in the back seat with his feet kicked up was the powerful guardian, Knuckles the Echidna. His fuchsia eyes shot open, blazing with the desire for a fight. Sonic flashed his trademark grin towards Knuckles which only served to excite the guardian even more.

"Ready to bash some robots, Knux." Sonic questioned.

"Ready? I've been looking forward to this ever since I got the call." The guardian answered, grinning.

Pulling his legs back into the seat, he cracked his mittens before reaching back to hold up a small green cut diamond, "With the shrunken Master Emerald here, I don't have to worry about anything Eggman might pull." the guardian declared, proud about his idea.

"All right, we know the plan." Sonic announced, " Get in and get out with Amy."

"Piece of cake." Knuckles said, bashing his fist together.

"One more thing..." Tails said, looking back at Sonic with a serious tone, " Don't use Azure Force at all."

"C'mon Tails, Metal was asking for it." Sonic said, feeling himself being scolded once again.

"This isn't funny, Sonic." Knuckles added, joining in, " You know that you can only handle Azure Force while in direct control off two emeralds."

"I know, one emerald for balance of energy, second emerald for the abundance of energy." Sonic yelled, slightly annoyed.

"Yes, what amazes me is that you were able to balance it without any emerald." Tails said, thinking about the details from the fight as he had been told.

"Don't worry," Sonic expressed, "I won't do anything that stupid unless I need to."

"Not even if you need to." Tails explained, " Too much exposure to that kind of force might screw up your balance of chaos energy."

"Fine, I'll take it easy." Sonic complied.

"I wonder if this excuse for a hero can even throw a punch," Knuckles questioned, examining Sonic, "No offense, but you look like shit."

"First, that was total offense, second..I'll be fine, ok?" Sonic answered, brushing off the topic.

"Ok, lets get this started," Tails said, "I'm sure Eggman has some things ready for us despite the situation so I'm changing modes with the tornado."

"Right!" responded the other two.

To Tails' right was a set of three buttons; yellow, red, and blue. Locating the red, he gave it a quick punch while Knuckles took a hold of Sonic casted off into the sky, gliding steadily as they took notice.

The tornado seemed reply instantly, slowly breaking apart. However, as each part fell, a metal wire was formed, keeping everything connected as the began to transform. All four wings switched from a solely vertical line to an cross position. The propellers were drawn into the plane, being replaced with a bright yellow cap. The tail of the new plane lifted up at an angle, making way for a solo booster which sprung to life. All armor quickly fell back into the place, the tornado's transformation finally completing.

Knuckles slowly descended down into the tornado, occupying the built in back seat. Sonic decided to land on the left side of the tornado's cross wings, holding the top wing for safety.

"All right, full speed ahead." Sonic pointed.

Tails nodded and all three we're sent soaring through the blood red sky. Nearing closer to the center of Eggmanland, Tails suspicions about traps seemed to ring true. Raising from many of the destroyed buildings were missile launchers which wasted no time in firing their amunition.

"Brace yourself" Tails shouted.

"Don't worry, we got this." Sonic assured.

Both Sonic and Knuckles jumped off the tornado, making a beeline towards the missiles. Sonic easily saw his first target, and with a quick kick downward, knocked the missile toward several others. Knuckles descended next to Sonic and both grabbed hands. As they closed in on the missiles, the two begun to spin at a rapid pace, shell of violet engulfing them.

The combined fuchsia tornado began to rip and tear into the army of missiles, mainly due to the heat of grinding vortex they had formed. As the attack began to cease, Knuckles easily gained the upper strength, spinning sonic around before flinging him towards the last few remaining missiles. With careful precision, Sonic sliced through each missile before finally unraveling from his spin dash.

However as he emerged from his spin dash, his eyes widened as the last missile continued forward, just feet before him. The hedgehog closed his eyes, expecting the full force of the missile but found himself coughing from the exhaust appearing as it passed him.

"Shoot, its going for Tails." the hedgehog realized.

"Damn." Knuckles said, watching the missile leave his range.

Tails expected this and pushed the yellow button, primarily excited about it. Just in time as the missile collided with the soaring tornado, an explosion of scrap metal expanding through the air. However, soaring out of the recent explosion was a plane that Sonic didn't recognize.

The plane was extremely small, almost go cart like. The paint scheme was yellow and white and the wings themselves was short square like. Inside the cockpit was none other than Tails, a wide grin adorn on his muzzle.

"Wow, Tails." Sonic said, rather surprised, " You definitely did some modifications on the tornado"

"You haven't seen everything." Tails said, proud of his work.

All three of the heroes made a crash landing among the ruins of the once great empire. Tails examined nearby damage while Knuckles could only whistle at the damage done everywhere. Sonic himself was stricken with great nostalgia, having traveled here with a good friend.

"So, where do you think we should look." Sonic questioned, at a loss of words.

"Honestly, I have no clue." Tails responded, "We know for sure that Eggman set things up to attack on our way to Amy, but I wouldn't know where to start."

"Of course, with all the damage that blue boy did over here, this place should hardly stand." Knuckles added.

"Maybe that's why Eggman put the timer on this crap." uttered the azure hedgehog, seeing through Eggman's obvious lie.

Finding no place to start, Sonic fell to the ground, a frown on his face, " Dang, we're losing time here. We have four hours left until kaboom."

"Sonic, can you remember any important place from last time we ended up here." Tails questioned, focusing on this last attempt.

"Wait, I think I do know." Sonic answered.

* * *

**Crimson City Eggmanland – 5:30 AM**

"Well here we are!" Sonic announced, landing amongst a bridge filled with scraps from destroyed bots.

"Dear Gaia...this took forever." Knuckles moaned, crawling behind the hedgehog

Tails flew not far behind, relaxing in his tornado runner, "I would consider getting some exercise next time Knux." the fox joked, " Guarding that emerald has not been good for you."

"Maybe I should trash that cheap excuse for a plane." Knuckles muttered.

"Settle down guys." Sonic snapped, " We have a deadline to meet."

Their bickering ceased and the two along with Sonic gazed ahead to see just what Sonic was getting at. In front of the trio lay a themed Eggman head with a wide open mouth, three doors that lay open. EGGMANLAND was displayed in large half burnt neon lights above the Eggman opening.

"I hate to say it, but it looks like we gotta split up." Sonic hissed.

"That's exactly what Eggman must have planned." added the golden fox, hopping out of his tornado runner.

"However, Eggman must not have expected me to come along." Knuckles spoke, turning towards Sonic, " I'm sure one of those passages leads to Amy."

Sonic nodded in response, before setting his sights once again to the gate, " Then we gotta try, don't hold anything back."

"Yup, lets go." Tails gestured.

Sonic quickly grasped the fox's hand before he could get a head start, "Shouldn't the tornado runner stay here?" the blue bomber questioned.

"Don't worry, Sonic..this thing has a lot more tricks up its sleeve." Tails assured.

All heroes nodded together before staring at each other, knowing the possible risks. Together, they united hand on hand before nodding once more, sure that they would all come out of it in once piece. Just as they broke the hand pile, each hero dashed off in a streak of light, each entering their gate in their quest to find Amy. Three hours remained, just enough time for the blue bomber...

_TO BE CONTINUED_

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for reading the 3rd chapter. It sets up the timed assault upon the base and slowly reveals parts of the doctors true plans. Please give theories, speculation, and constructive criticism within a review plz.**

**TRIVIA**

**= The tornado plays a huge role in Tails' fighting skill within this story and its subsequent future titles**

=**The tornado runner happens to be the race plane that Tails uses in Sega and All stars racing.**

**= Stranger still, apparently in SA 2, the tornado Tails uses was the tornado III before it transformed into the cyclone(the combat mode)...i did not know that. **

**= The area described in the last part was a variation of the Eggmanland hub world from Unleashed**

**= I originally meant to break the 4th wall in this chapter, but in the seriousness of the story, I felt that it was not needed.**


	4. Chapter 4: Perfect Machines?

**A/N: Sonic and related material belong to SEGA**

**-Preparation Arc-**

**Vir Terminus**

**Chapter IV: Perfect Machines?**

**Crimson City Eggmanland – Freight chamber, 3 hours till destruction**

"I'm surprised I wasn't around for the assault against this place." Knuckles said in awe.

Th red Echidna kicked away spare metal as he made his way down the transparent corridor. He could only wonder exactly why he stayed out of the fight against Dark Gaia. The blue bomber didn't hesitate with any details when it came to his adventures but the Echidna himself was too busy with other stuff to worry about something Sonic would eventually solve.

There also lay the one thing that seemed to preoccupy his time, guarding the Master Emerald. This was his usual excuse and lately, most of his friends began to doubt whether he really liked hanging out with them but that was not the point. Knuckles couldn't stress enough how important it was to protect the emerald. Many times, his failure to successfully guard the jewel had led to such catastrophe that the Echidna couldn't bear to have it taken away again.

He huffed in anger, thinking of all the looks he had received from his friends. Though it was disappointing at times, it was his job and he would see it through til the end. Alone with his thoughts, the Echidna didn't notice that his feet had carried him to a translucent oval room.

"Where am I?" the Echidna asked.

The ruby guardian found himself in a small, purely stained glass room giving an awe inspiring, if not frightening, display of the Eggmanland workforce area. Looking down, the Echidna could see he was several hundred feet suspended in the air and among that, he could gaze upon several floors of Eggman pawns preoccupied with minor construction work. _What were they making?_ Looking down, his question only became harder to answer.

Below the Echidna was a set of crimson rail lines occupied by large hexagons carrying what seemed to be completed machines with egg themed drapes over them. From the direction, the guardian guessed that the freights were leaving Eggmanland. Next to the lines of leaving freights were others that he presumed were coming in, holding broken metal and scraps from what appeared to be Eggman's old robots.

"These...there old creations." Knuckles whispered in awe. 

Parts upon parts of past machinations appeared, some that the guardian distinctly remembered; The Egg hawk from their metal rebellion days, the Egg Golem from when Shadow appeared. Even what Knuckles guessed were failed E-100 series appeared on the slabs of metal making their way in. His old Egg Viper, even his new gen egg pawns were seen on the conveyor. Even the Echidna couldn't wash away the feelings of nostalgia as he stared the pieces down.

The parts made their way into large bunkers within this giant establishment, thrown at the full mercy of the up and running egg pawns. Out of the bunkers led the fixed contraptions, slenderly wrapped in their drapes. They made their way past Knuckles line of view, to which he guessed is where the rails changed and the newly made machinery was granted it's railway out.

"He's trying to get what he can out of this dust heap before it blows up." Knuckles concurred, gazing down the robots at work.

His gaze then switched towards the bunkers, his eyes flaring up, "If anything, I can destroy these bunkers before finding Amy. That alone can delay whatever Eggman is scheming up." the ruby guardian decided.

An ominous presence stirred within the Echidna, something fake, something fast. The sound of soft clanks rapidly went off around him as if something was circling him. As his eyes widened, darting back and forth, a soft rush of air hugged his back. In an instant, the world seemed to move forward and the Echidna found himself flying through the glass in front of him.

He winced, several thin slabs of glass found their way through his being as he began to descend to his supposed demise. His eyesight began to fade as slight fear enclosed his being. Frequent flutters of his eyelids revealed his descent nearing one of the freight trains below. His momentum increased and prompted a stagnant wake up of the guardian. He flipped over, his feet towards the ground, and landed abruptly on the moving freight. He rolled around, attempting to recover his footing.

However, as he caught his stance, he immediately thrusted his hands into the sky as a familiar rush of wind fell upon his ruby body. His suspicions proved correct as an unknown entity, chunky like metal, collided into him, it's fist put forward as well. The ruby guardian grinned at the attack, eying his metallic enemy.

The chunk of metal quickly released it's grasp and sprung back in an elaborate stream of flips. The robot slid back a few feet, readjusting it's approach. The ruby Echidna's fuchsia pools aligned themselves at the robot, scoping every inch of the new adversary.

From what Knuckles could easily see, the robot was a deliberate copy of the one and only Metal series abet with some rather new modifications. Things were different though. The blatant copy of Metal was also less of a Metal Sonic than any contraption he had ever seen. The basic frame was there but the robot looked almost like it was pulsing with life. The robot was a generic copy with no outer shell and only wire rubber fibers visible. Crimson LED lights appeared but behind the red glass were moving eyes, whether they were really or not, Knuckles would never know. The sweeping fiber locks reminded Knuckles of an Echidna.

With every movement the robot made, the wires that encircled it pulsed like muscle fibers, churning energy into the robot. Almost like a smitten gaze, it's eyes fixated on Knuckles and it began to flex it's ice cold claws.

Being thrown back into reality as the freight rounded a turn, Knuckles raised his mittens, preparing for battle, "Alright, you seem to mean business." Knuckles quipped.

"Engaging files, suspect identity known and confirmed," the incomplete copy said, "Eggman did not note you to be here."

Thinking back to the story Tails told of Amy's disappearance, everything seemed to click, "Eggman was setting a trap for us... It wasn't like we didn't think of it, I guess it just means the doctor hasn't lightened up at all." the red guardian spat, his stance tightening.

"Regardless, the Doctor reports you are wanted for information." the copy assessed, " Thus, you cannot escape."

"Is that supposed to be a threat, you bag of trash?" Knuckles said, wincing as he began to remove some of the large glass slabs from his chest.

"If your mundane thoughts think it, then it is so." the copy responded.

"Oh smart are we, you got a name?" Knuckles prodded.

The robot seemed to ponder the question slightly, "Only what the doctor has labeled me-P:CV.4 or Proto Knuckles V.4." the robot responded.

A proto version of him? Either Eggman was running out of ideas or he was onto something that the heroes weren't ready for. _Whatever that stands for, it can't be good,_ Knuckles thought, inching back slightly.

The robot seemed to sense the guardians anxiety and decided to make the first move. It began a slow cautious movement towards the Echidna. The guardian put up his dukes once more but was unprepared for what was about to happen. Just a fast as a crack of lightning, Proto Knuckles disappeared. The guardian gulped and winced from the sonic boom that burst through the area. However as he looked around, he couldn't see anything, it was almost like Proto Knuckles didn't exist.

With no theory on where the enemy went, the ruby Echidna simply jumped to the right. His action proved accurate, as the robot zoomed overhead, as if lighting the air it occupied on fire. It flew overhead, crashing into nearby egg scraps from it's failed attack. Knuckles himself hit the ground roughly, rolling across the freight until he neared the edge.

His eyes widened, and he reached out frantically as he flew off the edge. Not even aiming in the slightest, his mittens grasped the edge of the platform, dangling for life. He easily regained control and pushed himself up to the platform and rolled to the side. His chest inflated with dirtied air, his heart thumped erratically. The Echidna didn't have time to rest as the looming figure of the new enemy crept up above him. Knuckles continued to roll away, avoiding Proto Knuckles' sharp stab into the ground.

Knuckles pressed up from the ground mid roll and spun around to deliver a quick punch directly into the metal entity's face. As fast as the punch was, it contained all the power of the guardian himself and thus easily knocked the metal fiend off the rugged metal platform. The guardians hit was a lot harder than he thought as he could only watch as metal flew straight towards the opposite running freight trains.

The Proto sentient was far from done though. The crass robot easily regained control and landed on the vertical plane of the large shipment boxes, leaving a heavy indent of momentum upon the surface. Using the momentum of the previous hit and the power from his back thruster, the robot launched towards the Echidna in a shell of silver energy that hugged it's every curves.

Knuckles reeled back his fist, crimson energy shrouding his mitten. He held his stance and tensed his body up, preparing for a clash. As Proto Knuckles drew closer and closer, Knuckles decided to let his attack fly first.

"**Critical Impact!**" Knuckles yelled forth.

It was strikingly quiet, as if everything had immediately stopped. Knuckles smirked while the metal fiend was forced to make a desperate slash forward. The area between the two adversaries was suddenly filled with an abundance of smoke as an explosion rang out. The clash didn't seem to go well as both attackers were shot back from the dust.

Knuckles skidded across the ground, smoke shrouding his right fist. Metal shot backward in line of scrap metal, holding it's left arm as eggshell colored liquid drizzled from his torn wires.

Knuckles easily rebounded from the clash and pushed himself off the ground, "Did I get em?" he whispered under breath, eying the metal entity closely.

Proto Knuckles clasped it's left arm, almost as if experiencing strange discomfort. The arm was not torn off but considerable damage was dealt to it. What caught the guardian's eye was the drips of snow white liquid that emanated from within the wounds of it's arm. Knuckles himself noticed the suspicious liquid on his chest as well. Along that was two diagonal flesh wounds across his left peck. As he rubbed the liquid between his fingers, he felt the liquid burn its way through the fabric of his mitten, washing over his fingers. It felt strangely organic between his grasp. He could also recall a slight warmth from the liquid- an almost rejuvenating warmth.

His mind gladly returned to reality when he noticed his copy finally moving from the ground.

"That attack was...unexpected." Proto Knuckles observed, it's eyes flashing an abnormal blue neon.

Knuckles grinned, "Its a tricky attack alright." he boasted lightly.

* * *

"_**Critical Impact!**" Knuckles yelled forth._

_His fist flew forward like a blazing comet. His reach could only go so far though. There was still quite a few inches between him and Proto Knuckles. The metal fiend itsself saw a chance, however, something eerie kept him from speeding up. Just centimeters from the ruby guardian's mittens, a tiny crumb sized string of explosions littered the small space. _

_These explosions quickly expanded and burst through like fireballs among the fighting zone. The metal entity quickly reacted and sliced his blade like claws at Knuckles, just as he flew into the fiery smoke. The explosion was a fast as it was devastating. One of the metal fiend's claw was ruptured in the blast but was able to make a quick connect with the guardians chest. White liquid gushed out of the robots arm and it finally fell into the relentless onslaught of the mighty explosions, flying backwards._

* * *

"Its my Critical impact," Knuckles heaved, raising his arm in triumph, " It's secret isn't hitting its target, its what happens at the tip of the blast."

"The attack distorted the molecules of the air, slicing them in half resorted in.." the robot spoke.

"..A giant bang." Knuckles finished, smiling lightly.

Knuckles reached down at his chest and wiped up more of the white liquid, "What exactly is this that's leaking out of your arm?"

"Lets just say that Eggman is getting a little organic." the metal entity answered quickly.

Feeling the area dim around him, the guardian finally gazed around to see where they had wounded up. His eyes quickly streamed right to left as he saw the freight pass several of the robot bunkers. Soon his sight was cut from the outside area as their freight entered a tunnel.

With only the warmth of single violet bulbs flying by, the guardian began to feel another burst of wind, something a little hotter than before. The twin boosters behind metal roared fiercely and the robot propelled directly to the right.

In a single motion, the robot pressed up against the inner walls of the tunnel and blasted it off towards knuckles, curling up. Silver energy began to lapse from the blood like substance leaking from the robot. Its razor quills began to spin around the iron figure, a buzz saw shape coming to light. The Silver comet continue to pick up speed, it's target inching closer.

"This isn't gonna be good." Knuckles yelled.

He held his mittens forward ready for another go. The deadly spin dash collided head on into the Echidna. Knuckles held his hands steady, wincing as the razor quills began to dig into his mittens. With no options left, he recoiled his right hand while coaxing himself to keep his left hand steady.

Ruby embers began to flare around his right hand as he formed a fist. The attack was incomplete but it's urgency was needed immediately. Resisting the urge to pull back his hand, the Echidna let out a grunt and brought his attack out on a whim.

"**Fire Dunk**"

He shot his first forward and smashed through the spin dash, knocking the metal entity backward. The fury of the hit implanted the enemy straight into the wall of the curving tunnel. The Echidna breathed a sigh of relief as the metal entity disappeared around the corner.

His relief was short lived.

Proto Knuckles cracked himself out the impacted surface almost like snapping a tooth pick. It's thrusters ignited in a glistening display of ruby and scarlet fire. The fire propelled metal along the curving tunnel until the Echidna showed up in his sights. Knuckles released his gaze away from the oncoming fiend and ran across the connected freight platforms.

Trying the escape the onslaught of the egg creation, Knuckles began to latch a hold of several of the scraps laying down, tossing whatever he could mobilize into the air. Like an elegant dance, the metal copy maneuvered between the oncoming chunks of metal in a display of fire and smoke. It continued to close in on the guardian and prepared another devastating spin dash.

The Echidna dazedly prepared himself for one more attack. While running, he held his right fist in front of him and watched as tiny sparks of scarlet began to flicker around his mitten. Just as Proto Knuckles approached, Knuckle spun around to deliver another critical impact though the attempt was all in vain.

The fiery attack collided into the silver spin dash in a last ditch effort. The strength of Proto Knuckles' razor sharp attack burrowed through Knuckles' attack and delivered a devastating blow against the Echidna's chest. The massive blow rendered the Echidna unconscious and sent him soaring straight into a pile of scrap metal. The thrusters of the metal enemy faded in glory and the metal being lightly fell to the moving freight to gaze at the damage it had done.

The rail train was quickly moved on without extensive damage and brought the two adversaries to the exchange of scrap metal.

_Damn it, move_ Knuckles coaxed, fighting against his body

His muscles felt dense. His body vehemently resisted his urge for action. His fuchsia eyes fluttered open, trying to refocus on the area. Among his hazy stare was the fibered robot, it's azure eyes beginning to fade back to a crimson tinge.

The new area they had traveled to was a large oval room. Above everything were swinging hooks, grabbing and placing large metal scraps on other conveyor belts. Below them was a much more frightening scene. For scraps that obviously were of no use, the conveyor belts would dump the rest in the raging pit of rotating claws. Like rows of shark teeth, they ground up the metal to where? Metal would rather not know.

"It looks like its the end, Echidna."Proto Knuckles started, "You provided sufficient data."

Knuckles pushed himself to speak, "What? You were just scanning me?"

Metal walked closer and pressed it's foot upon Knuckles' left leg, prompting a grunt of pain, "You weren't meant to be here but nonetheless you were needed for future data extraction."

"What for? Are you using this for creations? Are you some line of perfect machine?" Knuckles coughed out, feeling the extent of his wounds take over.

"A perfect machine?" Metal copied, almost humoring the guardian, "Dear Knuckles, perish the thought...I'm not even close to the perfection you will see soon enough." It said, before registering it's error, "Or what you would have seen."

"You sound as if its over?" Knuckles questioned.

"It is," the prototype spoke, "You may not be able to see, but your future looks to be heading towards the shredder."

The Metal fiend released it's foot away from Knuckles' leg, looking at it's bent figure. The sound of it's thrusters once again filtered the air with it's breath of fire and smoke, levitating the entity overhead. Knuckles blinked once and saw the metal fiend soar away slowly.

"This isn't the end of my story yet..." Knuckles cheered, grunting as he sat up.

He began to press off the ground, feeling his body reach it's limit. As he battled to stand up, his body only cried more when he felt the his leg crack sending waves of burning pain throughout his body. His mind struggled for dominance while his body screamed to give up. The seemingly endless fight for control started to reach its climax as the ruby guardian saw exactly what Proto Knuckles meant by "shredded."

"C'mon, I can rest as soon as I live!" Knuckles yelled, pushing himself up.

"Landing on both feet, his left leg quickly buckled underneath his weight. His grimaced at the pain as he knelt down while beginning to think about the situation. The freight continued to move closer as the links in front of him began to dump their load around the flip. Finding no other way, he held up his hands.

"The attack wont be perfect, but all I need is a little spark to reach him." Knuckles spoke to himself, running out of ideas.

"What could he be planning?" the metal clone wondered, switching his gaze from crimson red to an azure tinge.

Distinct violet orbs began to circle around the Echidna's gloves. He would have to hurry- he could feel his eyesight blurring once more. He pressed his hands to the ground as a burst of scarlet energy inflamed his fists. He pressed hard against the metal conveyer, feeling his strength buckle the very platform he was on.

"**Heat Maximum**" he whispered.

He unleashed his stored up power into the conveyor which in turn, bounced himself up into the air. Though the attack was imperfect, the remainder of his strength managed to crush to conveyor, stopping the dumping right in it's tracks.

Knuckles flew forward, his arms held wide open towards the metal fiend. Proto Knuckles however payed too much attention to recording the data that he failed to react to Knuckles' attack. As he ascended, he promptly closed his arms, latching on to the fiend's back spikes.

"Aha, gotcha!" Knuckles yelled in victory.

"Release me you heathen!" Metal yelled, swaying back and forward.

Metal ignited his thrusters to their maximum output and began to fly backwards, towards the oval walls. He crashed straight into the wall with Knuckles, seeing the guardian grunt in agony as he crashed through the wall. The metal entity backed away slowly and quickly thrusted back into the wall, watching Knuckles loosen his grip with every attempt.

"Why wont you relent?" Metal said, continuing his onslaught amongst Knuckles' back.

"Heh, guess Sonic's 'A hero never gives up' speech got to me." he responded, almost out of breath.

"A hero never gives up?" Proto knuckles questioned, smashing Knuckles into the wall once more.

"Yup, not until we have Amy and Eggs plan is good and done for." Knuckles explained.

The metal being stopped his onslaught and pulled forward dislodging Knuckles, still holding on, from the wall. Knuckles himself let off one arm- he couldn't even feel which one-and began to gather bits of whatever energy he could dish out. He reeled his fist at the metal fiend's thrusters multiple times in an onslaught of rapid punches. The sleek thruster were reduced to bent up hollows of their former selves upon the guardians barrage.

"You fool, this wont end well." the prototype reprimanded, feeling his circuits tangle.

The thrusters began to spark erratically, almost in a fit or rage, and blasted the two high up into the room. They began to spin and soar among the moving hooks of the oval room in a frenzied dance. It was this time that Knuckles formed his last bid to win the fight. The momentum of the erratic thrusters sent the metal prototype between to hooks, where Knuckles planned to end it.

Using the last bits of energy he had left, he pumped the remaining energy into his muscles, feeling the tissue of his body flex once more. He squeezed hard against the metal's torso and gained control. He spun around, completely putting metal off his trajectory, and swung the copy directly into into the hook behind him.

The hook sliced through the torso and wired fibers of the prototype as if burning through a stick of butter. The dance of metal that flew from his body lingered in the air. The mysterious white like blood coursing through the fiend's body splattered over the gray hook, shrouding the hook like an ocean. The metal being ceased all functions immediately, frozen mid lunge. It's eyes remained its crimson hue but its body had otherwise given up all hope of movement.

Knuckles, mid air, lunged forward one last time and delivered a punch against the chain holding the hook, sending him and the remnants of the robot adversary flying towards the ground. As luck would have it, they both landed on a separate contained conveyor leading outside the oval room.

Knuckles planted into the conveyor, spinning around to avoid the inertia of the fall. The hook containing metal impaled itself into the conveyer, its stature resembling a broken memorial.

Knuckles flipped his body over, his dimming gaze getting light of the failing cyber enemy. He began to crawl towards the defeated prototype, content with the end of the match.

"I must admit, you gave me a rather tough fight." Knuckles expressed, drawing ever closer, "For a second, I thought I would lose."

The speed of the conveyor brought both fighters back into the exchanging room where the robotic bunkers lay. Knuckles gazed around, thinking about how he was going to attempt to bring them down. He smirked, _fat chance of that ever happening now_. He was brought out of his thoughts when the rapid blinking of the prototypes eyes flared into reality.

As it's eyes quickly dimming down, the metal being could only say so much, "Its no use now, the doctor has received every bit of my analysis." the metal fiend spoke, it's audio processor forming shrieks and alternating bass increases.

"After all that, it doesn't matter that you lost. All that mattered was the data," Knuckles said, feeling remorse, "It feels a little hollow to know I didn't accomplish anything at all."

"I guess that's something we robots have over you...fleshy beings." the prototype said.

"To me, I see it as a double edged sword...the victory in knowing that any distinction you did ended in someones victory yet you don't have the emotions to feel or converse over this." Knuckles thought over.

"So much for the thought of perfect machines then?"

"There is so much you have yet to know." the prototype said, it's vocals lowering.

Knuckles had one more question, one that would answer their reason for being here. If he could somehow pass on the message on to Sonic or Tails, this would have made the fight all the more worth it.

Knuckles lay, just inches from the metal fiend, "Proto Knuckles, wheres Amy? We came to find her and you should know where she is."

"Amy?" the copy muttered in confusion.

"Where is Amy?" the guardian pressured, "You know, Amy Rose? If I was in your data banks, she should be there."

"I know of who you talk about," the metal Echidna addressed, "Its just...there is no record of Amy Rose being occupied here."

"What?" Knuckles yelled, almost hurling on sight.

"The doctor never had her moved here." the prototype said, it's systems beginning to boot down, "Its addressed that shesssss..." the metal bot uttered it's last words before it's crimson eyes blinked off, it's run coming to an abrupt end.

"So this has all been for nothing?" Knuckles said, shaking lightly, "We're gonna die in this hell hole looking for someone that isn't even here." he said, planting his fist into the ground in anger.

As the Echidna began to curse himself, a sudden earthquake began to rattle the area. His initial thought provoked him to gaze up into the top of the room, where several cracks began to develop. The small fissures in the roof began to lengthen before the whole roof leveled under the pressure of an unknown entity.

As his vision blurred out, he could distinctly remember a tentacled mass of metal falling followed by the soft clipping buzz of air plane rotors. Also, with one yell overhead, the guardian had a feeling he would be ok.

"Knuckles!"

_TO BE CONTINUED_

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed, there were many references in terms of the fighting and dialogue of things that foreshadow into not only this story but the sequel to this story and its subsequent followings.**

**Read and Review**


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